Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Buys New Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 119 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $689,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,620,154,000 after purchasing an additional 30,054 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,706,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 6.6% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 296,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,365,170,000 after purchasing an additional 18,268 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 9.5% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 226,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,297,331,000 after purchasing an additional 19,578 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,023,655,000 after purchasing an additional 8,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $4,911.15 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4,096.23 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.31 billion, a PE ratio of 31.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $5,339.38 and its 200 day moving average is $5,401.89.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $83.39 EPS. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,700.00 to $6,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,443.00 to $5,523.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,121.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 625 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,141.53, for a total value of $3,213,456.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 22,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $118,162,642.46. This trade represents a 2.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total transaction of $79,379.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,729.36. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,197 shares of company stock worth $17,260,963. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.